Salim Barakat's Genuine Novelistic Techniques: Sages of Darkness

Öz

The present study brings to light some of the original novelistic writing techniques that Salim Barakat evolved in his first novel entitled Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām (Sages of Darkness). With this novel, the author laid the foundation for techniques to be used in his subsequent novels. In the absence of an established Middle Eastern or Kurdish tradition of novel writing, Barakat had ample space to develop his own original techniques. He first published Sages of Darkness in 1985 in Nicosia Cyprus, and later published a second edition in Baghdad in 1994—with a further overlay of cinematic imagery and use of his own poetics and vocabulary as in his poems of the intervening period. An anthology of Barakat’s poems in the original Arabic can now be read online. And there are also English translations in the Anthology of Aviva Butt’s book of 20 September 2021(see the References at the end of this article). A previous article on Sages of Darkness published in IJOKS 7 (1) (2022) attempted to establish the genre of Barakat’s novel as psychological realism with philosophical and fantastical elements—the first 50 pages were examined. In this study, I will mention the frequent symbolic relationship of the environment to Kurdish life—as seen in the first approximately 120 pages. A completed English translation of Sages of Darkness, including the remaining 90 pages underway, will hopefully be published by early next year.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Salim Barakat
• Sages of Darkness
• Kurdish novel
• techniques in novel writing
• development of the Kurdish novel

Kaynakça

1. Abdulkarim C. & Saeed I. (2019). The Burden of Colonialism and Alienation in the Modern Kurdish Novel. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 5 (2), 373 – 392. DOI: https//doi.org/10.21600/ijoks.530519
2. Ahmadzadeh, H. (2007). “In Search of a Kurdish Novel That Tells Us Who the Kurds Are.” Iranian Studies 40 (5): 579-592. Published by Taylor & Francis, Ltd. On behalf of the International Society of Iranian Studies. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25597416
3. Ahmadzadeh, H. (2011). “Magic Realism in the Novels of a Kurdish Writer, Bakhtiyar Ali.” Middle Eastern Literatures: incorporating Edebiyat, 14:3, 287-299. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1475262x.2011.616713 .
4. Barakāt, S. (2018). al-Aʽmāl al-Shi‘riyyah—Salīm Barakāt [The Poetry Works—Salīm Barakāt]. Beirut: al-Mu’assash al-‘Arabiyya lil-Dirāsāt wa-l-Nashr [The Arab Foundation for Studies and Publishing], 2007. https://www.noor-book.com/en/ebook-الاعمال-الشعريه-سليم-بركات .
5. Barakāt, S. (1994). Sages of Darkness. Translated by Matti Peled from the original Arabic (Bison Press, Nicosia Cyprus, 1985): Am Oved Publishers, Tel Aviv (1994)—Afterword by Matti Peled (1994).
6. Barakāt, S. (1994). Fuqahā’ al-Ẓalām / فقَهَاء الظَلام [Sages of Darkness]. Baghdad: 1st edition, Al-Mada Publishing House.
7. van Bruinessen, M. (2022). ‘Foreword: the various manifestations of the Kurdish tribe’. English original of a text published as ‘ÖNSÖZ: Kürt Aşiretlerinin Muhtelif Tezahürleri’, in: Tuncay Şur & Yalçın Çakmak, eds, Aktör, Müttefik, Şaki: Kürt Aşiretleri (Istanbul: İletişim, 2022).
8. Burç, S. A. (2022). Abstract translated with academia.edu from Metinan Aşireti: Anlatıdan Tarihi Belgelere Bir Aşiretin İzini Sürmek / “Metinan Tribe: Tracing a Tribe from Narrative to Historical.” Aktör, Müttefik, Şaki: Kürt Aşiretleri, İletişim Yayınları.

9. Butt, A. (2021). Salim Barakat, Mahmud Darwish, and the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude: Qamishli Extended. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing: 270 pp.
10. Butt, A. (2022). “Salim Barakat’s novel, Sages of Darkness: ―Who is Benav’s son Bekas?‖.” International Journal of Kurdish Studies 7 (1): 82-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks.1028134.
11. Butt, A. (2013). On Screenwriting and Love and Politics: The Screenplay “Blue Mist.” Introduction by Gaetano Nino Martinetti (ACS). Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co. USA.
12. Ghobadi, K. (2015). Dissertation submitted to the University of Exeter for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Kurdish Studies. Subjectivity in Contemporary Kurdish Novels: Recasting Kurdish Society. Available as a library copy and posted on academia.edu.
13. Kliger, I. (2010). “Shapes of History and the Enigmatic Hero in Dostoevsky: The Case of Crime and Punishment.” Comparative Literature 62:3. University of Oregon. DOI: 10.1215/00104124-2010-012.
14. Pollard, Edward B. (1898). “The Prophet as a Poet.” The Biblical World 12 (5): 327-332. University of Chicago Press. https://www.jstor.org/stablel/3136580
15. Saleh, W. A. (2021). “Death and Dying in the Qur’an.” Troubling Topics, Sacred Texts: Readings in Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Qur’an, edited by Roberta Sterman Sabbath. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter: 345-355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110650617-020
16. Warnes, C., Kim, Anderson S. (2020). Magical Realism and Literature. Cambridge University Press.
17. Other sources:
18. Qur’ān: Tanzīl min Rabi-l-‘Ālamīn. Diyarbakir Turkey: Great Mosque, 2018.
19. Web resources:
20. Psychological Realism in Crime and Punishment (Manual). https://www.ipl.org/essay/Psychological-Realism-In-Crime-And-Punishment-PCCQSC6SQU Quranic text: https://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/القرآن_الكريم/النص_المشكول